Albert F. Mummery

Albert Frederick Mummery (10 September 1855, Dover, Kent, England – 24 August 1895, Nanga Parbat), was an English mountaineer and author. Although most notable for his many and varied first ascents put up in the Alps, Mummery, along with J. Norman Collie, Hastings, and two Gurkhas are also known to have been the first men in recorded history to have attempted to summit one of the Himalayan eight-thousanders - the fourteen highest peaks in the world.

Albert F. Mummery
Born(1855-09-10)10 September 1855
Dover, England
Died24 August 1895(1895-08-24) (aged 39)
Nanga Parbat, British India
OccupationMountaineer, Author
Spouse(s)Mary
Albert F. Mummery, mountaineering

Their innovative, light-weight endeavour upon Nanga Parbat in 1895 was to prove ill-fated with Mummery and both Gurkhas having perished in an avalanche whilst reconnoitering the mountain's Rakhiot Face. The mountain would go on to earn its reputation as a "man-eater," as thirty-one men would lose their lives on its slopes before the first ascent was made by the legendary Austrian Mountaineer, Hermann Buhl, in 1953. Buhl described Mummery as "One of the greatest mountaineers of all time".[1]

Life

Mummery's father was a tanner and mayor of Dover. The tanning business was prosperous enough for Mummery to devote most of his energies to climbing and economics. He became a friend of J. A. Hobson, and they collaborated on The Physiology of Industry (1889), which argued that because of economies' tendencies towards over-saving - and this being a cause of depressions – the economy required intervention to achieve stability.[2]

Mountaineer

Mummery is best remembered for his pioneering efforts in mountaineering. Initially, he climbed with mountain guides, but with his companions William Cecil Slingsby and J. Norman Collie he was part of the movement which revolutionized alpinism by the practice of guideless climbing. He invented the Mummery tent, a type of tent used in the early days of mountaineering.

He made a series of remarkable first ascents, most notably the Aiguille du Grépon (which features a crack named after him), the Dent du Requin, the Grands Charmoz, the Teufelsgrat on the Täschhorn, the Dürrenhorn and the Zmutt ridge of the Matterhorn, which he ascended on 3 September 1879 with the guides Alexander Burgener, J. Petrus and A. Gentinetta. In 1894, he led his friend, the young Duke of the Abruzzi, to the top of the Matterhorn by the same route.

Mummery occasionally climbed with his wife Mary, or with her friend Lily Bristow.

In 1880, Mummery and Burgener were repelled while trying to make the first ascent of the much-coveted Dent du Géant, being forced back by some difficult slabs. This provoked Mummery to exclaim prophetically: 'Absolutely inaccessible by fair means!'[3]

In 1895, Collie, Hastings and Mummery were the first climbers to attempt the Himalayan 8,000 metre peak, Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world. On this pioneering lightweight expedition, the mountain claimed the first of its many victims, when Mummery and two Gurkhas, Ragobir Thapa and Goman Singh, fell and were killed by an avalanche while reconnoitering the Rakhiot Face. Their bodies were never found. The story of this disastrous expedition is told in J. Norman Collie's book From the Himalaya to Skye. In 1898, Collie named Mount Mummery in the Canadian Rockies after his climbing companion.[4]

Mummery left behind him a legacy of some of the most well-regarded routes in the Alps, and also, in his book My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus, one of the enduring classics of mountaineering literature.

Mummery died on Nanga Parbat and on the Diamir side of the mountain, there is a famous section named after him called Mummery Spur. In february of 2019 two climbers, Danielle Nardi of Italy and young Tom Ballard from England attempted to climb Nanga Parbat through the Mummery Spur in winter, a very dangerous route, as the Mummery Spur is known for constant avalanches. According to the famous Italian climber, Simone Moro, climbing Mummery Spur in winter is a suicidal undertaking. Danielle Nardi was on his seventh attempt on Nanga Parbat and Tom Ballard on just on his second in Asia, but the young brit had an interesting story: his mother was the famous british climber, Alison Hargreaves (1962,Derbyshire, England-1995, K2, Pakistan) who died on the K2 mountain, which also is situated in Pakistan and the second highest mountain on Earth. And her son was known as one of the most talented climbers in the world, having just completed the first ascent of all six large north faces of the Alps in winter. In 1993 his mother had been the first person ever to complete the same mountains, only in summer. Unfortunately the expedition ended in tragedy for Tom Ballard and Danielle Nardi. After not being able to reach them on the radio for a number of days, a rescue mission was sent out by helicopter, and on March 10 their bodies was spotted on the Mummery Spur section of the Diamir side of Nanga Parbat at app. 19,376 ft. It was decided, that the location was too difficult to rescue the bodies.

It has frequently been noticed that all mountains appear doomed to pass through the three stages: An inaccessible peak - The most difficult ascent in the Alps - An easy day for a lady.

— Albert Frederick Mummery, My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus

References
  1. Hermann Buhl, È buio sul ghiacciaio, con i diari alle spedizioni al Nanga Parbat, al Broad Peak e al Chogolisa, a cura di Kurt Diemberger, Corbaccio, 2007, ISBN 978-88-7972-871-3; pag. 243 e pag. 261
  2. Bleaney, M (1998) Mummery, Albert Frederick: in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. eds Eatwell et al
  3. Dumler, Helmut, and Willi P. Burkhardt, The High Mountains of the Alps (London: Diadem, 1994) p. 179
  4. "Mount Mummery". PeakFinder.com. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  • Collie, J. Norman. From the Himalaya to Skye. Rockbuy Limited. ISBN 1-904466-08-7.
  • Mummery, A. F. My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus. Rockbuy Limited. ISBN 1-904466-09-5.
  • Arnette, Alan. "Bodies of Missing Climbers found on Nanga Parbat". Outsideonline.com.
  • Nestler, Stefan (5 March 2019). "Moro: The Mummery Spur is suicidal". abenteuer-berg.de. Adventure Mountain.
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